​Current memberships and affiliations
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National Association of Science Writers​
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Member and Volunteer​
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Northwest Science Writers Association
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2023 Career Development Award​
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Society of Women Engineers
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Editorial Board Member​
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Mentoring Working Group Member
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Meet & Greet Coordinator, Columbia River Section
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Past affiliations
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University of Southern California
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Educational background
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B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California, 2013
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Viterbi Merit Research Scholar
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Research conducted under Dr. Ellis Meng, Biomedical Microsystems Lab
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M.S. in Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California, 2017
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What was your writing journey?
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Diya began her business, D Dwarakanath Journalism, in 2023. She pivoted to independent science journalism after being impacted by a reduction in force. Previously, she was a Senior R&D (Research and Development) Device Engineer at diagnostic startup Cue Health, which was based in San Diego, CA. She worked in R&D engineering for five years in the medical device and diagnostics industries, both at start-ups and large companies. Prior to that, Diya worked as a Solutions Engineer for 1.5 years at Oracle. She has always been an amateur non-fiction and occasional fiction writer.
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Email Diya to request her resume.
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Who are you?
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In the words of the late, great Maya Angelou: "My mission in life is not just to survive, but to thrive; And to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style."
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A native Oregonian, Diya is a writer, a biomedical engineer, a Big Sister, a trained Bharatanatyam dancer, a speaker, and a critical thinker. She worked and lived in Boston, Los Angeles, and San Diego.
Diya loves new challenges and the sense of being in flow. She is also:
- a fan of servant leadership, true diversity, and dissenting perspectives working in harmony (or constructive chaos)
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a loyal friend
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passionate about giving back
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a dessert fiend
Welcome to Diya's portfolio!
What do you write about?
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Diya is an independent science and engineering journalist whose reporting spans engineering and civic science. Her work has appeared in media outlets such as IEEE Spectrum and Science News Explores. In addition to writing, she has also anchored and co-produced a new TV program called "Local Perspectives" on the CivicSciTV Network, part of the non-profit Civic Science Media Lab.
In her spare time, she has also written five plus narrative essays and articles on professional development and personal engineering experiences for SWE Magazine, a publication of the Society of Women Engineers.
With some past amateur science communication and/or journalism experience, Diya's interests include writing opinion-editorials, blogs, news stories, explainers, and feature articles on topics such as:
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Healthcare
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Biomedical sciences
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Engineering
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Research & development engineering in industry
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Science, technology, and society
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AI (artificial intelligence)
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Mentoring
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STEM (science, tech, engineering, math) outreach
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the ironies of society
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Despite being an early-career journalist, she has past publications that include being a third author on a scientific paper in the Journal of Neuroscience.
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Based in Portland, Oregon, Diya is an insightful writer with "a minimalist approach and an eye for detail," said a professional writing colleague. Her unique skillset is combining her subject matter expertise with her interest in furthering science and engineering communication with the public.
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Diya is insatiably curious and can find an interesting angle on almost any topic. She distills complexity into simpler, but accurate, language tailored to her audience.
Her editing skills include the ability to reduce word count but maintain content-richness of an article.​​​​
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FAQ
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​1. Are you a technical writer?
No. I also don't do academic, manuscript, or grant writing. I can refer you to science communicators who do this work though!
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​2. How is your work different?
I work as a science journalist, so I write and report on research studies or innovations and explain them in an engaging way. My audience is usually the general public.
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3. Does science communication include engineering, math, and tech stories?
Yes. This term confused me too initially. Science communication or science journalism includes all STEM.
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4. Are you open to take on clients?
Yes! I currently have a couple, and I can take on one-off freelance or independent science journalism projects.​
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5. Have you quit engineering forever?
Nope! When I broke up with engineering, I realized I still think like an engineer, due to my training and work. So I embrace it.
I'm on hiatus from an engineering full-time job. When I return, it'll be to healthy teams who genuinely value disrupting the status quo. A new, green flag relationship is what I want. ​I'm dreaming, you say?
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Well, "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" I reply, quoting Mary Oliver.
Services
Please contact for pricing
Journalism
Science communication
Writing for young readers
Professional speaking
STEM Career advising
Research